Quarry thoughts

I found these declarations of love carved into rock at a quarry in Dorsett, Vermont.

Being a person in a constant state of existential crisis, I couldn’t help but wonder with some degree of desperation, “Does JM still love DB?”

I know that love can be tragically fleeting, and I also know that based upon a date of 1914 carved into the rock nearby, Pam and DG could very well be dead, but still, I found myself standing over this declaration of love, imagining the effort and time required to carve letters into rock, and desperately hoping that JM and DB were still together today, still holding hands somewhere, smiling.

I felt the same when I found the declaration that DG loves Pam, and maybe even more so given that DG took the time to declare his love in a full sentence, practically shouting his affection to the world.

Did Pam and DG return to this quarry again and again in the future, to admire and reminisce over these words? Did JM and DB bring their children to this place in later years to show them these markers of young love?

Or did the love between DG and Pam ultimately fade. Did Pam return to this spot years after her relationship had ended, recalling the days when she and DG sat on the stones in this quarry, feet dangling into the water, talking about their future? Did DB and JM carve these letters into rock and forget about them entirely?

Do any of the human beings who spent time in this quarry, carving reminders of their existence and their love into rock, remember the days spent sitting atop these boulders and swimming in the small pond between them?

Does anyone remember them? Or have these people – like almost all the people who have ever lived – been forgotten by the world forever?

Yes, these are the kinds of thoughts that plaque me. They plagued me on the day that Elysha and I found these letters and words, and they continue to plague me now.

It’s not always easy being me.